Orkney is just to the north of Scotland, Shetland is much further north and east, half-way to Norway.

I was born in Shelland. (PS Please don't use the term "Shetlands" - the Shetland Isles, the Shetland Islands, or just 'Shetland' are fine, but not "The Shetlands")

*Shelland? Shetland, even.

apologies, i will attempt to break this habit...

What of the Channel Isles, or the Isle of Mann?

they are not parts of the UK, at least the Isle of Mann is independant except for foreign policy and defence (which the UK guarentees for it) and has it's own parliment, meanwhile the Channel Isles have a different relationship - their head of state is the same Royal, though the title duke is apparently used instead of Queen/King, so they are more like Canada or Australia in their form of independance - they have their own administrations, and thus neither gets to vote in the United Kingdom's elections. (UK being of Great Britian and Norther Ireland)

Did not know that. So British Isles but not UK?

Yes the English Royalty still consider themselves Duke of Normandy, considering the size of the Channel Isles compared to the rest of Normandy that sounds weird isn't it?

The channel isles are closer to france than british - the term british isles is often used to include the Islands of Britian, Ireland, Mann, Orkney, etc.

but not sure if Shetland and the channel isles count. (ignoring the Irish complaint about the use of the term 'British Isles' to include this other Island) So yeah meaning 'owned by Britian' then they do count as British Isles, kind like the British Virgin Islands (in the pacific?) but not UK.

Its kinda a mess deciding what to call bits of Britain. At least back in the empire days you knew you had Great Britain (Eng/Sco/Wal) & The Empire (rest). Nowadays two different people will use the same words the other way round.
I would have assumed your islands in a box would be The Shetlands though?

where Britain (great or not) is considered by some (Irish) to be the name for an Island near the Island of Ireland...

Heh, I don't think any of those Irish think Britains at all great :(

I always thought of anything off the coast of France as the British Isles, and divided it up from there, including the Channel Isles.

@figlesquidge Would that depend on which Irish you are talking about?

it is usual to refer to the largest of a set of islands as greater 'island name' like http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Greater_Hebrides

though i think the Irish would find the idea of being refered to as lesser Britian as sligthly more offensive...

I'm sure they have felt they were treated so.

orathaic: The British Virgin Islands are east of Puerto Rico, not in the Atlantic.

warsprite: I'm sure they feel that they were treated worse than that.

@JECE I made a deliberate understatement.

Perhaps the island where the political entities Eire and Northern Ireland are located should be know as Little Britain?

@Orathaic:
"I always thought of anything off the coast of France as the British Isles, and divided it up from there, including the Channel Isles."

"it is usual to refer to the largest of a set of islands as greater 'island name' "

As I understand it the Channel Islands are not usually seen as part of the British Isles (geographically). Apart from that I believe that you have this absolutely right.

This is an excellent subject for confounding foreigners. Especially handy if they already understand cricket.

My parents had their honeymoon in the Shetland islands,
Id love to visit someday.

The Wikipedia entry for "British Isles" has a nice Euler diagram for all of this. Whether it is correct is another matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles_(terminology)

Oh and as a side note, an island group sometimes takes its collective name from the largest island (Bahamas, Canary Islands, Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, Malta, San Juan Islands, etc.). So the fact they are called the British Isles is only because the largest island is Great Britain. That and the English are wankers.

@diplomat61 : no Little Britain is in fact Brittany. Or at least in French, Spanish and Italian.
Great Britain translated in French, Spanish, Italian : Grande Bretagne, Gran Bretaña, Gran Bretagna
Brittany translated in French, Spanish, Italian : Bretagne, Bretaña, Bretagna

"At the time of the Germanic invasion of Southern Britain, many Britons emigrated to the area now known as Brittany, where Breton, a Celtic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish and descended from the language of the emigrants, is still spoken." So after that migration, they were two "Britain" : the Island and the continental, that is why Britain is known as Great Britain.

Wikipedia : "After the Old English period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) refers to the island of Great Britain as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany."

Wikipedia: "chamois is a goat-antelope species native to mountains in Europe"

Dingle +1 :P

@"Especially handy if they already understand cricket. "
Indeed, just don't let them look at the nationality of the "English" cricket team!

@Chamois: I know the point about Brittany, but my version is useful if you need to wind up the Irish.

@figlesquidge: that is nothing new. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._S._Ranjitsinhji. And before the Aussies start whinging perhaps they should consider that bonza Australian: Kepler Wessels.